document_title: Minister of Defence (India)

question_text: who is the newly appointed defence minister of india

text: Minister of Defence (India)

text:
Minister of Defence

Emblem of India

Incumbent
Nirmala Sitharaman

Ministry of Defence

Appointer
President on the advice of the Prime Minister

Inaugural holder
Baldev Singh

Formation
2 September 1946

text: The Minister of Defence is the head of the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India. They are often assisted by a Minister of State for Defence and less-commonly, the lower-ranked Deputy Minister of Defence. The defence minister additionally serves as President of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, and as Chancellor of the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology and of the National Defence University.

text: The first defence minister of independent India was Baldev Singh, who served in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet during 1947–52. Nirmala Sitharaman, the current defence minister of India is the second woman since Indira Gandhi to hold this major post.

text: List of Defence Ministers[edit]

text:
№
Name
Portrait
Term of office
Political party
(Alliance)
Prime Minister

1
Baldev Singh
(1902-1961)

2 September 1946
10 May 1952
Indian National Congress

Jawaharlal Nehru

2
Kailash Nath Katju
(1887-1968)

1955
1957

3
V. K. Krishna Menon
(1896-1974)

1957
1962

4
Yashwantrao Chavan
(1913-1984)

1962
1966
Jawaharlal Nehru
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Indira Gandhi

5
Swaran Singh
(1907-1994)

1966
1970
Indira Gandhi

6
Jagjivan Ram
(1908-1986)

1970
1974

(5)
Swaran Singh
(1907-1994)

1974
1975

7
Indira Gandhi
(1917-1984)

1975
1975

8
Bansi Lal
(1927-2006)

21 December 1975
24 March 1977

(6)
Jagjivan Ram
(1908-1986)

24 March 1977
28 July 1979
Janata Party

Morarji Desai

9
Chidambaram Subramaniam
(1910-2000)

28 July 1979
14 January 1980
Janata Party (Secular)

Charan Singh

(7)
Indira Gandhi
(1917-1984)

16 January 1980
15 January 1982
Indian National Congress

Indira Gandhi

10
R. Venkataraman
(1910-2009)

15 January 1982
2 August 1984

11
Shankarrao Chavan
(1920-2004)

2 August 1984
31 December 1984
Indira Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi

12
P. V. Narasimha Rao
(1921-2004)

31 December 1984
25 September 1985
Rajiv Gandhi

13
Rajiv Gandhi
(1944-1991)

25 September 1985
24 January 1987

14
V. P. Singh
(1931-2008)

24 January 1987
12 April 1987

15
K. C. Pant
(1931-2012)

12 April 1987
1 December 1989

(14)
V. P. Singh(1931-2008)

2 December 1989
10 November 1990
Janata Dal
(National Front)

Himself

16
Chandra Shekhar
(1927-2007)

10 November 1990
21 June 1991
Samajwadi Janata Party
(National Front)

Himself

17
Sharad Pawar
(1940–)

21 June 1991
6 March 1993
Indian National Congress

P. V. Narasimha Rao

(12)
P. V. Narasimha Rao
(1921-2004)

6 March 1993
16 May 1996

18
Pramod Mahajan
(1949-2006)

16 May 1996
1 June 1996
Bharatiya Janata Party

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

19
Mulayam Singh Yadav
(1939-)

1 June 1996
19 March 1998
Samajwadi Party
(United Front)

H. D. Deve Gowda
I. K. Gujral

20
George Fernandes
(1930–)

19 March 1998
16 March 2001
Samata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

21
Jaswant Singh
(1938-)

16 March 2001
21 October 2001
Bharatiya Janata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)

(20)
George Fernandes
(1930–)

21 October 2001
22 May 2004
Samata Party
Janata Dal
(National Democratic Alliance)

22
Pranab Mukherjee
(1935–)

22 May 2004
24 October 2006
Indian National Congress
(United Progressive Alliance)

Manmohan Singh

23
A.K. Antony
(1940–)

24 October 2006
26 May 2014

24
Arun Jaitley
(1952–)

26 May 2014
9 November 2014
Bharatiya Janata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)

Narendra Modi

25
Manohar Parrikar
(1955–)

9 November 2014
13 March 2017

(24)
Arun Jaitley
(1952–)

13 March 2017
3 September 2017

26
Nirmala Sitharaman
(1959–)

3 September 2017
Incumbent


document_title: List of California wildfires

question_text: what was the largest forest fire in california history

root

text: List of California wildfires

text: Largest fires[edit]

text: Since 1932, when accurate records started to be kept, these are the 20 largest wildfires in California, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE).[2] However, the largest wildfire in recorded California history was the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889, which burned at least 300,000 acres (120,000 ha) in southern California.[3]

tag: p

text: Note:  means that the fire is currently burning. Total size and position in the list are subject to change.

text:
Name
County
Acres
Hectares
Start date
Structures
Deaths
Notes

Thomas
Ventura, Santa Barbara
281,893
114,078.0
000000002017-12-01-0000December 2017
1,063
2
As of December 22, confirmed fatalities attributed to the fire include 1 firefighter and 1 civilian.[4]

Cedar
San Diego
273,246
110,578.7
000000002003-10-01-0000October 2003
2,820
15
The second-largest human-caused fire in modern California history.

Rush
Lassen
271,911
110,038.5
000000002012-08-01-0000August 2012
0
0
Of this fire, 43,666 acres (17,671.0 ha) burned in Nevada, for a total of 315,577 acres (127,709.5 ha)[5][6]

Rim
Tuolumne
257,314
104,131.3
000000002013-08-01-0000August 2013
112
0

Zaca
Santa Barbara
240,207
97,208.3
000000002007-07-01-0000July 2007
1
0

Matilija
Ventura
220,000
89,030.8
000000001932-09-01-0000September 1932
0
0

Witch
San Diego
197,990
80,123.7
000000002007-10-01-0000October 2007
1,650
2

Klamath Theater Complex
Siskiyou
192,038
77,715.0
000000002008-06-01-0000June 2008
0
2

Marble Cone
Monterey
177,866
71,979.8
000000001977-07-01-0000July 1977
0
0

Laguna
San Diego
175,425
70,992.0
000000001970-09-01-0000September 1970
382
5

Basin Complex
Monterey
162,818
65,890.1
000000002008-06-01-0000June 2008
58
0

Day
Ventura
162,702
65,843.2
000000002006-09-01-0000September 2006
11
0

Station
Los Angeles
160,557
64,975.1
000000002009-08-01-0000August 2009
209
2

Rough
Fresno
151,623
61,359.7
000000002015-07-01-0000July 2015
4
0

McNally
Tulare
150,696
60,984.5
000000002002-07-01-0000July 2002
17
0

Stanislaus Complex
Tuolumne
145,980
59,076.0
000000001987-08-01-0000August 1987
28
1

Big Bar Complex
Trinity
140,948
57,039.6
000000001999-08-01-0000August 1999
0
0

Happy Camp Complex
Siskiyou
134,056
54,250.5
000000002014-08-01-0000August 2014
6
0

Soberanes
Monterey
132,127
53,469.9
000000002016-07-01-0000July 2016
68
1

Campbell Complex
Tehama
125,892
50,946.7
000000001990-08-01-0000August 1990
27
0

tag: table

text: Deadliest fires[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2017)

text: A list of the 20 deadliest fires, according to CAL FIRE, can be found here:

tag: ul

text: The deadliest fire in California in recorded history was the 1933 Griffith Park Fire in Los Angeles, which killed 29 civilians who tried to fight and/or escape the fire. The second deadliest fire was the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which killed 25 people. The third deadliest fire was the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Napa and Sonoma Counties, which killed 22 people in and around Santa Rosa.

text: Most destructive fires[edit]

text: A list of the 20 most destructive fires, according to CAL FIRE, can be found here: http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/Top20_Destruction.pdf[8]

text:
Santiago Canyon Fire (1889). Burned on the order of 310,000 acres (130,000 ha).
Berkeley Fire (1923). Destroyed 640 structures, including 584 homes.
Griffith Park Fire (1933). Official death toll was 29 firefighters, but may have killed up to 58.
Rattlesnake Fire (1953). 15 firefighters were killed in this arsonist's fire.
Bel Air Fire (1961). 484 homes were destroyed; 112 injuries.
Laguna Fire (1970). 382 homes burned, killing eight people.
Painted Cave Fire (1990). 1 death and 430 buildings burned in this arson fire near Santa Barbara.
Oakland firestorm (1991). Killed 25 people. Destroyed 2,843 single-family homes and 437 multi-family units.
Mount Vision Fire (1995). 45 homes destroyed. Cause: illegal campfire.

text: Starting in 2001, the National Interagency Fire Center began keeping more accurate records on the total fire acreage burned in each state.[9]

text: Yearly statistics[edit]

text:
Year
Fires
Acres
Hectares
Ref

2000
7,622
295,026
119,392.8
[10]

2001
9,458
329,126
133,192.6
[11]

2002
8,328
969,890
392,500.6
[12][13]

2003
9,116
1,020,460
412,965.5
[14][15][16]

2004
8,415
264,988
107,236.8
[17][18]

2005
7,162
222,538
90,057.9
[19][20]

2006
8,202
736,022
297,857.5
[21][22]

2007
9,093
1,520,362
615,268.7
[23][10]

2008
4,923
1,593,690
644,943.5
[24][10]

2009
9,159
422,147
170,836.8
[25][26]

2010
6,554
109,529
44,324.8
[27]

2011
7,989
168,545
68,207.7
[28][29]

2012
7,950
869,599
351,914.2
[30]

2013
9,907
601,635
243,473.0
[31][32]

2014
7,865
555,044
224,618.3
[33]

2015
8,745
893,362
361,530.8
[34]

2016
6,986
565,070
228,675.7
[35]

Average
8,087
655,104
265,111.2

text: A 2015 study[36] addressed whether the increase in fire risk in California is attributable to climate change.[37]

text: Notable fires[edit]

text: Note: † means fire is currently burning. Check primary sources for up-to-date statistics.

text:
Name
County
Acres
Hectares
Start
Contained
Notes
Ref

Rumsey
Yolo
39,138
15,838.6
October 10, 2004
October 16, 2004
5 structures destroyed
[38]

Old
San Bernardino
91,281
36,940.1
October 21, 2003
November 25, 2003
975 structures destroyed
[39]

Simi
Ventura
108,204
43,788.6
October 25, 2003
November 5, 2003
315 structures destroyed
[40]

Topanga
Los Angeles
24,175
9,783.3
September 28, 2005
October 6, 2005

[41]

Esperanza
Riverside
41,173
16,662.1
October 26, 2006
November 1, 2006
5 fatalities, 54 structures destroyed
[42][better source needed]

Island
Los Angeles
4,750
1,922.3
May 10, 2007
May 15, 2007
6 structures destroyed
[43]

Zaca
Santa Barbara
240,207
97,208.3
July 4, 2007
September 4, 2007
1 structure destroyed
[44]

Witch
San Diego
197,990
80,123.7
October 21, 2007
November 6, 2007
1,650 structures destroyed
[45]

Harris
San Diego
90,440
36,599.8
October 21, 2007
November 5, 2007
472 structures destroyed; 1 fatality
[46]

Santiago
Orange
28,400
11,493.1
October 21, 2007
November 9, 2007
24 structures destroyed
[47]

Corral
Los Angeles
4,901
1,983.4
November 24, 2007
November 27, 2007
86 structures destroyed
[48]

Indians
Monterey
81,378
32,932.5
June 8, 2008
July 10, 2008

[49]

Basin Complex
Monterey
162,818
65,890.1
June 21, 2008
July 27, 2008

[50]

Sesnon
Los Angeles
14,703
5,950.1
October 13, 2008
October 18, 2008

[51]

Jesusita
Santa Barbara
8,733
3,534.1
May 5, 2009
May 20, 2009
160 structures destroyed
[52]

La Brea
Santa Barbara
89,489
36,214.9
August 8, 2009
August 23, 2009

[53]

Lockheed
Santa Cruz
7,817
3,163.4
August 12, 2009
August 23, 2009
13 structures destroyed
[54]

Station
Los Angeles
160,577
64,983.2
August 26, 2009
October 16, 2009
209 structures destroyed; 2 fatalities
[55]

Guiberson
Ventura
17,500
7,082.0
September 22, 2009
October 1, 2009

[56]

Rush
Lassen
271,991
110,070.9
August 12, 2012
August 30, 2012
1 barn destroyed
[57]

Springs
Ventura
28,000
11,000
May 2, 2013
May 6, 2013
20 outbuildings destroyed
[58]

Powerhouse
Los Angeles
30,000
12,000
May 30, 2013
June 10, 2013
24 structures destroyed
[59]

Mountain
Riverside
27,531
11,141.4
July 15, 2013
July 21, 2013
23 structures destroyed
[60]

Silver
Riverside
20,292
8,211.9
August 7, 2013
August 12, 2013
48 structures destroyed
[61]

Rim
Tuolumne
257,314
104,131.3
August 17, 2013
October 24, 2013
112 structures destroyed
[62]

Clover
Shasta
8,073
3,267.0
September 9, 2013
September 15, 2013
68 homes destroyed; 1 fatality
[63]

Happy Camp Complex
Siskiyou
134,056
54,250.5
August 14, 2014
October 31, 2014
6 structures destroyed
[64]

King
El Dorado
97,717
39,544.7
September 13, 2014
October 9, 2014
80 structures destroyed
[65]

Boles
Siskiyou
516
208.8
September 15, 2014
October 11, 2014
157 structures destroyed
[66]

Lake
San Bernardino
31,359
12,690.5
June 17, 2015
August 1, 2015
4 structures destroyed
[67]

North
San Bernardino
4,250
1,719.9
July 17, 2015
July 21, 2015
7 structures destroyed
[68]

Rocky
Lake
69,438
28,100.6
July 29, 2015
August 14, 2015
43 structures destroyed
[69]

Butte
Amador and Calaveras
70,868
28,679.3
September 9, 2015
October 1, 2015
818 structures destroyed; 2 fatalities
[70]

Valley
Lake, Napa and Sonoma
76,067
30,783.2
September 12, 2015
October 15, 2015
1,955 structures destroyed; 4 fatalities
[71]

Erskine
Kern
47,864
19,369.9
June 23, 2016
July 11, 2016
309 buildings destroyed; 2 fatalities
[72]

Sand
Los Angeles
41,432
16,766.9
July 22, 2016
August 3, 2016
18 homes destroyed, 2 fatalities
[73]

Soberanes
Monterey
132,127
53,469.9
July 22, 2016
October 12, 2016
57 homes, 11 outbuildings destroyed, 1 fatality
[74]

Chimney
San Luis Obispo
46,344
18,754.8
August 13, 2016
September 6, 2016
68 structures destroyed
[75]

Clayton
Lake
3,929
1,590.0
August 13, 2016
August 26, 2016
175 structures destroyed, including a Habitat for Humanity office
[76]

Blue Cut
San Bernardino
37,000
14,973.4
August 16, 2016
August 23, 2016
105 homes, 213 outbuildings destroyed, 82,000+ evacuated
[77]

Loma
Santa Clara
4,474
1,810.6
September 26, 2016
October 12, 2016
28 structures destroyed
[78]

Detwiler
Mariposa
81,826
33,113.8
July 16, 2017
August 24, 2017
131 structures destroyed
[79]

Tubbs
Sonoma
36,807
14,895.3
October 8, 2017
October 31, 2017
5,643 structures destroyed; 22 fatalities
[80][81][82]

Thomas
Ventura and Santa Barbara
281,893
114,078.0
December 4, 2017
January 12, 2018
1,063 structures destroyed; 2 fatalities; 104,607 evacuated
[83][84][85][86][87]

Lilac
San Diego
4,100
1,659.2
December 7, 2017
December 16, 2017
157 structures destroyed; 10,000+ evacuated
[88][89]

text: Areas of repeated ignition[edit]

text: In some parts of California, fires can recur in areas with histories of fires. Examples of this are in Oakland, where fires of various size and ignition occurred in 1923, 1931, 1933, 1937, 1946, 1955, 1960, 1961, 1968, 1970, 1980, 1990, 1991, 1995, 2002, and 2008.[90][91] Other examples being Orange County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, and Los Angeles County. In the case of Orange and San Bernardino, these two counties share a county border that runs north to south through the Chino Hills State Park, with the park's landscape ranging from large green coastal sage scrub, grassland, and woodland, to areas of brown sparsely dense vegetation made drier by droughts or hot summers. The valley's grass and barren land can become easily susceptible to dry spells and drought, therefore making it a prime spot for brush fires and conflagration, many of which have occurred since 1914. Hills and canyons have seen brush or wildfires in 1914, the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and into today.[92]

text: On occasion, freak lightning strikes from thunderstorms may also spark wildfires in areas that have seen past ignition. Examples of this are the 1999 Megram Fire and the 2008 California wildfires.[citation needed]


document_title: Field goal percentage

question_text: what is a good shooting percentage in the nba

text: Field goal percentage

text: This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Although three-point field goal percentage is often calculated separately, three-point field goals are included in the general field goal percentage. Instead of using scales of 0 to 100%, the scale .000 to 1.000 is commonly used. A higher field goal percentage denotes higher efficiency. In basketball, a FG% of .500 (50%) or above is considered a good percentage, although this criterion does not apply equally to all positions. Guards usually have lower FG% than forwards and centers. Field goal percentage does not completely tell the skill of a player, but a low field goal percentage can indicate a poor offensive player or a player who takes many difficult shots. In the NBA, Center Shaquille O'Neal has a high career FG% (around .580) because he plays near the basket making many high percentage layups and slam dunks. Guard Allen Iverson often had a low FG% (around .420) because he took the bulk of his team's shot attempts, even with high difficulty shots.

text: The NBA career record for field goal percentage is held by DeAndre Jordan at 0.677. The highest field goal percentage for a single season was set by Wilt Chamberlain with 0.727 in the 1972–73 season.

text: Field goal percentages were substantially lower in the NBA until the mid-to-late 1960s.[1] For this reason, many early NBA stars have low field goal percentages, such as Bob Cousy at .375, and George Mikan, Bob Pettit, and Bill Russell, whose career field goal percentages of .404, .436, and .440, respectively, are much lower than later post players.[2]

text: Three-point field goal percentage is usually kept as additional statistics. Its abbreviation is 3FG%. A 3FG% of .400 and above is a very good percentage.


document_title: Winter Olympic Games

question_text: when did the united states last host the winter olympics

text: Winter Olympic Games

text: History[edit]

text: 20th century[edit]

text: 1900 to 1912[edit]

text: A predecessor, the Nordic Games, were organised by General Viktor Gustaf Balck in Stockholm, Sweden in 1901 and were held again in 1903 and 1905 and then every fourth year thereafter until 1926.[5] Balck was a charter member of the IOC and a close friend of Olympic Games founder Pierre de Coubertin. He attempted to have winter sports, specifically figure skating, added to the Olympic programme but was unsuccessful until the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom.[5] Four figure skating events were contested, at which Ulrich Salchow (10-time world champion) and Madge Syers won the individual titles.[6][7]

text: Three years later, Italian count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux proposed that the IOC stage a week of winter sports included as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. The organisers opposed this idea because they desired to protect the integrity of the Nordic Games and were concerned about a lack of facilities for winter sports.[8][9][10]

text: World War I[edit]

text: The idea was resurrected for the 1916 Games, which were to be held in Berlin, Germany. A winter sports week with speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and Nordic skiing was planned, but the 1916 Olympics was cancelled after the outbreak of World War I.[9]

text: 1920 to 1936[edit]

text: The first Olympics after the war, the 1920 Summer Olympics, were held in Antwerp, Belgium, and featured figure skating and an ice hockey tournament.[9] Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were banned from competing in the Games. At the IOC Congress held the following year it was decided that the host nation of the 1924 Summer Olympics, France, would host a separate "International Winter Sports Week" under the patronage of the IOC. Chamonix was chosen to host this "week" (actually 11 days) of events. The Games proved to be a success when more than 250 athletes from 16 nations competed in 16 events.[11] Athletes from Finland and Norway won 28 medals, more than the rest of the participating nations combined.[12] Germany remained banned until 1925, and instead hosted a series of games called Deutsche Kampfspiele, starting with the Winter edition of 1922 (which predated the first Winter Olympics). In 1925 the IOC decided to create a separate winter event and the 1924 Games in Chamonix was retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympics.[9][11]

text: St. Moritz, Switzerland, was appointed by the IOC to host the second Winter Games in 1928.[13] Fluctuating weather conditions challenged the hosts. The opening ceremony was held in a blizzard while warm weather conditions plagued sporting events throughout the rest of the Games.[14] Because of the weather the 10,000 metre speed-skating event had to be abandoned and officially cancelled.[15] The weather was not the only noteworthy aspect of the 1928 Games: Sonja Henie of Norway made history when she won the figure skating competition at the age of 15. She became the youngest Olympic champion in history, a distinction she held for 70 years.[16]

text: The next Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid, New York, was the first to be hosted outside of Europe. Seventeen nations and 252 athletes participated.[17] This was less than in 1928, as the journey to Lake Placid, United States, was long and expensive for most competitors, who had little money in the midst of the Great Depression. The athletes competed in fourteen events in four sports.[17] Virtually no snow fell for two months before the Games, and there was not enough snow to hold all the events until mid-January.[18] Sonja Henie defended her Olympic title, and Eddie Eagan of the United States, who had been an Olympic champion in boxing in 1920, won the gold medal in the men's bobsleigh event to become the first, and so far only, Olympian to have won gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics.[17]

text: The German towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen joined to organise the 1936 edition of the Winter Games, held on 6–16 February.[19] This was the last time the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same country in the same year. Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut, but skiing teachers were barred from entering because they were considered to be professionals.[20] Because of this decision the Swiss and Austrian skiers refused to compete at the Games.[20]

text: World War II[edit]

text: World War II interrupted the holding of the Winter Olympics. The 1940 Games had been awarded to Sapporo, Japan, but the decision was rescinded in 1938 because of the Japanese invasion of China. The Games were then to be held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, but the 1940 Games were cancelled following the German invasion of Poland in 1939.[21] Due to the ongoing war, the 1944 Games, originally scheduled for Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, were cancelled.[22]

text: 1948 to 1960[edit]

text: St. Moritz was selected to host the first post-war Games in 1948. Switzerland's neutrality had protected the town during World War II, and most of the venues were in place from the 1928 Games, which made St. Moritz a logical choice. It became the first city to host a Winter Olympics twice.[23] Twenty-eight countries competed in Switzerland, but athletes from Germany and Japan were not invited.[24] Controversy erupted when two hockey teams from the United States arrived, both claiming to be the legitimate U.S. Olympic hockey representative. The Olympic flag presented at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp was stolen, as was its replacement. There was unprecedented parity at these Games, during which 10 countries won gold medals—more than any Games to that point.[25]

text: The Olympic Flame for the 1952 Games in Oslo, was lit in the fireplace by skiing pioneer Sondre Nordheim, and the torch relay was conducted by 94 participants entirely on skis.[26][27] Bandy, a popular sport in the Nordic countries, was featured as a demonstration sport, though only Norway, Sweden, and Finland fielded teams. Norwegian athletes won 17 medals, which outpaced all the other nations.[28] They were led by Hjalmar Andersen who won three gold medals in four events in the speed skating competition.[29]

text: After not being able to host the Games in 1944, Cortina d'Ampezzo was selected to organise the 1956 Winter Olympics. At the opening ceremonies the final torch bearer, Guido Caroli, entered the Olympic Stadium on ice skates. As he skated around the stadium his skate caught on a cable and he fell, nearly extinguishing the flame. He was able to recover and light the cauldron.[30] These were the first Winter Games to be televised, and the first Olympics ever broadcast to an international audience, though no television rights were sold until the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.[31] The Cortina Games were used to test the feasibility of televising large sporting events.[31] The Soviet Union made its Olympic debut and had an immediate impact, winning more medals than any other nation.[32] Soviet immediate success might be explained by the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete". The USSR entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train full-time.[33][34] Chiharu Igaya won the first Winter Olympics medal for Japan and the continent of Asia when he placed second in the slalom.[35]

text: The IOC awarded the 1960 Olympics to Squaw Valley, United States. It was an undeveloped resort in 1955, so from 1956 to 1960 the infrastructure and all of the venues were built at a cost of US$80,000,000.[36][37] The opening and closing ceremonies were produced by Walt Disney.[38] The Squaw Valley Olympics was the first winter Olympics to have a dedicated athletes' village[citation needed], the first to use a computer (courtesy of IBM) to tabulate results, and the first to feature female speed skating events. The bobsleigh events were absent for the only time due to the cost of building a bobsleigh run.[38]

text: 1964 to 1980[edit]

text: The Austrian city of Innsbruck was the host in 1964. Although Innsbruck was a traditional winter sports resort, warm weather caused a lack of snow during the Games and the Austrian army was enlisted to transport snow and ice to the sports venues.[38] Soviet speed-skater Lidia Skoblikova made history by winning all four speed skating events. Her career total of six gold medals set a record for Winter Olympics athletes.[38] Luge was first contested in 1964, but the sport received bad publicity when a competitor was killed in a pre-Olympic training run.[39][40]

text: Held in the French town of Grenoble, the 1968 Winter Olympics were the first Olympic Games to be broadcast in colour. There were 1,158 athletes from 37 nations competing in 35 events.[41] French alpine ski racer Jean-Claude Killy became only the second person to win all the men's alpine skiing events. The organising committee sold television rights for US$2 million, which was more than twice the cost of the broadcast rights for the Innsbruck Games.[42] Venues were spread over long distances requiring three athletes' villages. The organisers claimed that this was necessary to accommodate technological advances, however critics disputed this, alleging that the layout would incorporate the best possible venues for television broadcasts at the athletes' expense.[42]

text: The 1972 Winter Games, held in Sapporo, Japan, were the first to be hosted on a continent other than North America or Europe. The issue of professionalism was disputed during these Games when a number of alpine skiers were found to have participated in a ski camp at Mammoth Mountain in the United States; three days before the opening ceremony, IOC president Avery Brundage threatened to bar the skiers from competing in the Games as he insisted that they were no longer amateurs having benefited financially from their status as athletes.[43] Eventually only Austrian Karl Schranz, who earned more than the other skiers, was excluded from the competition.[44] Canada did not send teams to the 1972 or 1976 ice hockey tournaments in protest at not being able to use players from professional leagues.[45] Francisco Fernández Ochoa became the first (and, as of 2018, only) Spaniard to win a Winter Olympic gold medal when he triumphed in the slalom.[46]

text: The 1976 Winter Olympics had initially been awarded in 1970 to Denver, Colorado in the United States. These Games would have coincided with the year of Colorado's centennial and the United States Bicentennial. However, in November 1972 the people of Colorado voted against public funding of the Games by a 3:2 margin.[47][48] The IOC responded by offering the Games to Vancouver-Garibaldi, British Columbia, which had previously been an official candidate for the 1976 Games. However, a change in the provincial government resulted in an administration that did not support the Olympic bid, so the IOC's offer was rejected. Salt Lake City, previously a candidate for the 1972 Winter Olympics, then put itself forward, but the IOC opted instead to invite Innsbruck to host the 1976 Games, as most of the infrastructure from the 1964 Games had been maintained. Despite only having half the usual time to prepare for the Games, Innsbruck accepted the invitation to replace Denver in February 1973.[49] Two Olympic flames were lit because it was the second time that the Austrian town had hosted the Winter Games.[49] The 1976 Games featured the first combination bobsleigh and luge track, in neighbouring Igls.[46] The Soviet Union won its fourth consecutive ice hockey gold medal.[49]

text: In 1980 the Winter Olympics returned to Lake Placid, which had hosted the 1932 Games. The first boycott of a Winter Olympics took place at these Games, when Taiwan refused to participate after an edict by the IOC mandated that they change their name and national anthem.[50] This was an attempt by the IOC to accommodate China, who wished to compete using the same name and anthem as those used by Taiwan.[50] As a result, China participated for the first time since 1952. American speed-skater Eric Heiden set either an Olympic or World record in every one of the five events in which he competed, winning a total of five individual gold medals and breaking the record for most individual golds in a single Olympics (both Summer and Winter).[51] Hanni Wenzel won both the slalom and giant slalom and her country, Liechtenstein, became the smallest nation to produce an Olympic gold medallist.[52] In the "Miracle on Ice", the American hockey team composed of college players beat the favoured seasoned professionals from the Soviet Union, and progressed to eventually win the gold medal.[53][nb 4]

text: 1984 to 1998[edit]

text: Sapporo, Japan, and Gothenburg, Sweden, were front-runners to host the 1984 Winter Olympics. It was therefore a surprise when Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, was selected as host.[56] The Games were well-organised and not affected by the run-up to the war that engulfed the country eight years later.[57] A total of 49 nations and 1,272 athletes participated in 39 events. Host nation Yugoslavia won its first Olympic medal when alpine skier Jure Franko won silver in the giant slalom. Another sporting highlight was the free dance performance of British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean; their Boléro routine received unanimous perfect scores for artistic impression, earning them the gold medal.[57]

text: In 1988, the Canadian city of Calgary hosted the first Winter Olympics to span three weekends, lasting for a total of 16 days.[58] New events were added in ski-jumping and speed skating, while future Olympic sports curling, short track speed skating and freestyle skiing made their debut appearance as demonstration sports. The speed skating events were held indoors for the first time, on the Olympic Oval. Dutch skater Yvonne van Gennip won three gold medals and set two world records, beating skaters from the favoured East German team in every race.[59] Her medal total was equalled by Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen, who won all three events in his sport. Alberto Tomba, an Italian skier, made his Olympic debut by winning both the giant slalom and slalom. East German Christa Rothenburger won the women's 1,000 metre speed skating event. Seven months later she would earn a silver in track cycling at the Summer Games in Seoul, to become the only athlete to win medals in both a Summer and Winter Olympics in the same year.[58]

text: The 1992 Winter Games were the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games.[60] They were hosted in the French Savoie region, with 18 events held in the city of Albertville and the remaining events spread out over the Savoie.[60] Political changes of the time were reflected in the composition of the Olympic teams competing in France: this was the first Games to be held after the fall of Communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Germany competed as a single nation for the first time since the 1964 Games; former Yugoslavian republics Croatia and Slovenia made their debuts as independent nations; most of the former Soviet republics still competed as a single team known as the Unified Team, but the Baltic States made independent appearances for the first time since before World War II.[61] At 16 years old, Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen made history by becoming the youngest male Winter Olympic champion.[62] New Zealand skier Annelise Coberger became the first Winter Olympic medallist from the southern hemisphere when she won a silver medal in the women's slalom.

text: The 1994 Winter Olympics, held in Lillehammer, Norway, were the first Winter Games to be held separately from the Summer Games. This change resulted from the decision reached in the 91st IOC Session (1986) to separate the summer and winter Games and place them in alternating even-numbered years.[63] Lillehammer is the northernmost city to ever host the Winter Games and it was the second time the Games were held in Norway, after the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia made their Olympic debuts.[64] The women's figure skating competition drew media attention when American skater Nancy Kerrigan was injured on 6 January 1994, in an assault planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding.[65] Both skaters competed in the Games, but the gold medal was controversially won by Oksana Baiul who became Ukraine's first Olympic champion, while Kerrigan won the silver medal.[66][67] Johann Olav Koss of Norway won three gold medals, coming first in all of the distance speed skating events.[68] 13-year-old Kim Yoon-Mi became the youngest-ever Olympic gold medallist when South Korea won the women's 3,000 meter speed skating relay. Russia won the most events, with eleven gold medals, while Norway achieved 26 podium finishes, collecting the most medals overall on home ground. Juan Antonio Samaranch described Lillehammer as "the best Olympic Winter Games ever" in his closing ceremony speech.[69]

text: The 1998 Winter Olympics were held in the Japanese city of Nagano and were the first Games to host more than 2,000 athletes.[70] The men's ice hockey tournament was opened to professionals for the first time. Canada and the United States were favoured to win the tournament as they both fielded numerous NHL players,[70] but surprisingly neither team won any medals and it was the Czech Republic who prevailed.[70] Women's ice hockey made its debut and the United States won the gold medal.[71] Bjørn Dæhlie of Norway won three gold medals in Nordic skiing, becoming the most decorated Winter Olympic athlete, with eight gold medals and twelve medals overall.[70][72] Austrian Hermann Maier survived a crash during the downhill competition and returned to win gold in the super-G and the giant slalom.[70] Tara Lipinski of the United States, aged just 15, became the youngest ever female gold medallist in an individual event when she won the Ladies' Singles, a record that had stood since Sonja Henie of Norway won the same event, also aged 15, in St. Moritz in 1928. New world records were set in speed skating largely due to the introduction of the clap skate.[73]

text: 21st century[edit]

text: 2002 to 2010[edit]

text: The 2002 Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, United States, hosting 77 nations and 2,399 athletes in 78 events in 7 sports.[74] These Games were the first to take place since the September 11 attacks of 2001, which meant a higher degree of security to avoid a terrorist attack. The opening ceremony saw signs of the aftermath of the events of that day, including the flag that flew at Ground Zero, NYPD officer Daniel Rodríguez singing "God Bless America", and honour guards of NYPD and FDNY members.

text: German Georg Hackl won a silver in the singles luge, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to win medals in the same individual event in five consecutive Olympics.[74] Canada achieved an unprecedented double by winning both the men's and women's ice hockey gold medals.[74] Canada became embroiled with Russia in a controversy that involved the judging of the pairs figure skating competition. The Russian pair of Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze competed against the Canadian pair of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier for the gold medal. The Canadians appeared to have skated well enough to win the competition, yet the Russians were awarded the gold. The judging broke along Cold War lines with judges from former Communist countries favouring the Russian pair and judges from Western nations voting for the Canadians. The only exception was the French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, who awarded the gold to the Russians. An investigation revealed that she had been pressured to give the gold to the Russian pair regardless of how they skated; in return the Russian judge would look favourably on the French entrants in the ice dancing competition.[75] The IOC decided to award both pairs the gold medal in a second medal ceremony held later in the Games.[76] Australian Steven Bradbury became the first gold medallist from the southern hemisphere when he won the 1,000 metre short-track speed skating event.[77]

text: The Italian city of Turin hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics. It was the second time that Italy had hosted the Winter Olympic Games. South Korean athletes won 10 medals, including 6 gold in the short-track speed skating events. Sun-Yu Jin won three gold medals while her teammate Hyun-Soo Ahn won three gold medals and a bronze.[78] In the women's Cross-Country team pursuit Canadian Sara Renner broke one of her poles and, when he saw her dilemma, Norwegian coach Bjørnar Håkensmoen decided to lend her a pole. In so doing she was able to help her team win a silver medal in the event at the expense of the Norwegian team, who finished fourth.[78][79] On winning the Super-G, Kjetil-Andre Aamodt of Norway became the most decorated ski racer of all time with 4 gold and 8 overall medals. He is also the only ski racer to have won the same event at three different Olympics, winning the Super-G in 1992, 2002 and 2006. Claudia Pechstein of Germany became the first speed skater to earn nine career medals.[78] In February 2009, Pechstein tested positive for "blood manipulation" and received a two-year suspension, which she appealed. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld her suspension but a Swiss court ruled that she could compete for a spot on the 2010 German Olympic team.[80] This ruling was brought to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, which overturned the lower court's ruling and precluded her from competing in Vancouver.[81]

text: In 2003 the IOC awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics to Vancouver, thus allowing Canada to host its second Winter Olympics. With a population of more than 2.5 million people Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area to ever host a Winter Olympic Games.[82] Over 2,500 athletes from 82 countries participated in 86 events.[83] The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training run on the day of the opening ceremonies resulted in the Whistler Sliding Centre changing the track layout on safety grounds.[84] Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen won five medals in the six cross-country events on the women's programme. She finished the Olympics with three golds, a silver and a bronze.[85] The Vancouver Games were notable for the poor performance of the Russian athletes. From their first Winter Olympics in 1956 to the 2006 Games, a Soviet or Russian delegation had never been outside the top five medal-winning nations, but in 2010 they finished sixth in total medals and eleventh in gold medals. President Dmitry Medvedev called for the resignation of top sports officials immediately after the Games.[86] Russia's disappointing performance at Vancouver is cited as the reason behind the implementation of a doping scheme alleged to have been in operation at major events such as the 2014 Games at Sochi.[87] The success of Asian countries stood in stark contrast to the under-performing Russian team, with Vancouver marking a high point for medals won by Asian countries. In 1992 the Asian countries had won fifteen medals, three of which were gold. In Vancouver the total number of medals won by athletes from Asia had increased to thirty-one, with eleven of them being gold. The rise of Asian nations in Winter Olympics sports is due in part to the growth of winter sports programmes and the interest in winter sports in nations such as South Korea, Japan and China.[88][89]

text: 2014 to 2018[edit]

text: Sochi, Russia, was selected as the host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics over Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea. This was the first time that Russia had hosted a Winter Olympics.[90] The Games took place from 7 to 23 February 2014.[91] A record 2,800 athletes from 88 countries competed in 98 events. The Olympic Village and Olympic Stadium were located on the Black Sea coast. All of the mountain venues were 50 kilometres (31 miles) away in the alpine region known as Krasnaya Polyana.[90] The Games were the most expensive so far, with a cost of £30 billion (USD 51 billion).

text: On the snow, Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen took two golds to bring his total tally of Olympic medals to 13, overtaking his compatriot Bjørn Dæhlie to become the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time. Another Norwegian, cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen took three golds; her total of ten Olympic medals tied her as the female Winter Olympian with most medals, alongside Raisa Smetanina and Stefania Belmondo. Snowboarder Ayumu Hirano became the youngest medallist on snow at the Winter Games when he took a silver in the halfpipe competition at the age of fifteen. On the ice, the Dutch dominated the speed skating events, taking 23 medals, four clean sweeps of the podium places and at least one medal in each of the twelve medal events. Ireen Wüst was their most successful competitor, taking two golds and three silvers. In figure skating, Yuzuru Hanyu became the first skater to break the 100-point barrier in the short programme on the way to winning the gold medal. Among the sledding disciplines, luger Armin Zöggeler took a bronze, becoming the first Winter Olympian to secure a medal in six consecutive Games.[90]

text: Following their disappointing performance at the 2010 Games, and an investment of £600 million in elite sport, Russia initially topped the medal table, taking 33 medals including thirteen golds.[92] However Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Russian national anti-doping laboratory, subsequently claimed that he had been involved in doping dozens of Russian competitors for the Games, and that he had been assisted by the Russian Federal Security Service in opening and re-sealing bottles containing urine samples so that samples with banned substances could be replaced with "clean" urine. A subsequent investigation commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency led by Richard McLaren concluded that a state-sponsored doping programme had operated in Russia from "at least late 2011 to 2015" across the "vast majority" of Summer and Winter Olympic sports.[93] On 5 December 2017, the IOC announced that Russia would be banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics with immediate effect[94] and by the end of 2017 the IOC Disciplinary Commission had disqualified 43 Russian athletes, stripping thirteen medals and knocking Russia from the top of the medal table, thus putting Norway in the lead.[95][96][97]

text: On 6 July 2011, Pyeongchang, South Korea, was selected to host the 2018 Winter Olympics over Munich, Germany, and Annecy, France.[98] This was the first time that South Korea had been selected to host a Winter Olympics and it was the second time the Olympics were held in the country overall, after the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. The Games took place from 9 to 25 February 2018. More than 2,900 athletes from 92 countries participated in 102 events. The Olympic Stadium and many of the sports venues were situated in the Alpensia Resort in Daegwallyeong-myeon, Pyeongchang, while a number of other sports venues were located in the Gangneung Olympic Park in Pyeongchang's neighboring city of Gangneung.

text: The lead-up to the 2018 Winter Olympics was affected by the tensions between North and South Korea and the ongoing Russian doping scandal. Despite tense relations, North Korea agreed to participate in the Games, enter with South Korea during the opening ceremony as a unified Korea, and field a unified team in women's ice hockey. Individual Russian athletes, who qualified and could demonstrate they had complied with the IOC's doping regulations, were given the option to compete neutrally in Pyeongchang as "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR) but they were not allowed to compete under the Russian flag.[94]

text: The Games saw the addition of big air snowboarding, mass start speed skating, mixed doubles curling, and mixed team alpine skiing to the programme. On the ice, the Netherlands again dominated the speed skating, winning gold medals in seven of the ten individual events. Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer won gold in the men's 5000m event, becoming the only male speed skater to win the same Olympic event three times. On the snow, Norway led the medal tally in cross-country skiing, with Marit Bjørgen winning bronze in the women's team sprint and gold in the 30 kilometre classical event, bringing her total Olympic medal haul to fifteen, the most won by any athlete (male or female) in Winter Olympics history. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo became the youngest ever male to win an Olympic gold in cross-country skiing when he won the men's sprint at age 21. Noriaki Kasai of Japan became the first athlete in history to participate in eight Winter Olympics when he took part in the ski jumping qualification the day before the opening of the Games. Ester Ledecká of the Czech Republic won gold in the skiing super-G event and another gold in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom, making her the first female athlete to win Olympic gold medals in two different sports at a single Winter Games.

text: Norway led the total medal standings with 39, the highest number of medals by a nation in any Winter Olympics, followed by Germany's 31 and Canada's 29. Host nation South Korea won seventeen medals, their highest medal haul at a Winter Olympics.

text: Future[edit]

text: The host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics, is Beijing in northern China, elected on 31 July 2015, at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur. Beijing will be the first city ever to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. The 2022 Winter Olympics will take place between 4 and 20 February 2022.

text: Controversy[edit]

text: The process for awarding host city honours came under intense scrutiny after Salt Lake City had been awarded the right to host the 2002 Games.[99] Soon after the host city had been announced it was discovered that the organisers had engaged in an elaborate bribery scheme to curry favour with IOC officials.[99] Gifts and other financial considerations were given to those who would evaluate and vote on Salt Lake City's bid. These gifts included medical treatment for relatives, a college scholarship for one member's son and a land deal in Utah. Even IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch received two rifles valued at $2,000. Samaranch defended the gift as inconsequential since, as president, he was a non-voting member.[100] The subsequent investigation uncovered inconsistencies in the bids for every Games (both summer and winter) since 1988.[101] For example, the gifts received by IOC members from the Japanese Organising Committee for Nagano's bid for the 1998 Winter Olympics were described by the investigation committee as "astronomical".[102] Although nothing strictly illegal had been done, the IOC feared that corporate sponsors would lose faith in the integrity of the process and that the Olympic brand would be tarnished to such an extent that advertisers would begin to pull their support.[103] The investigation resulted in the expulsion of 10 IOC members and the sanctioning of another 10. New terms and age limits were established for IOC membership, and 15 former Olympic athletes were added to the committee. Stricter rules for future bids were imposed, with ceilings imposed on the value of gifts IOC members could accept from bid cities.[104][105][106]

text: Host city legacy[edit]

text: According to the IOC, the host city for the Winter Olympics is responsible for "...establishing functions and services for all aspects of the Games, such as sports planning, venues, finance, technology, accommodation, catering, media services, etc., as well as operations during the Games."[107] Due to the cost of hosting the Games, most host cities never realise a profit on their investment.[108] For example, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, cost $3.6 billion to host. By comparison, the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, cost $12.5 billion.[109] The organisers of the Nagano Games claimed that the cost of extending the bullet train service from Tokyo to Nagano was responsible for the large price tag.[109] The organising committee had hoped that the exposure gained from hosting the Winter Olympics, and the improved access to Nagano from Tokyo, would benefit the local economy for years afterwards. In actual fact, Nagano's economy did experience a post-Olympic boom for a year or two, but the long-term effects have not materialised as anticipated.[109] The likelihood of heavy debt is a deterrent to prospective host cities, as well as the prospect of unused sports venues and infrastructure saddling the local community with upkeep costs into the future with no appreciable post-Olympic value.[110]

text: The Winter games has the added problem of the alpine events requiring a mountain location; the men's downhill needs an 800 meter altitude difference along a suitable course. As this is a focal event that is central to the Games, the IOC will not agree to it taking place a great distance from the main host city.[111] The requirement for a mountain location also means that venues such as hockey arenas often have to be built in sparsely populated areas with little future need for a large arena. Due to cost issues, the only candidate cities for the 2022 Winter Olympics were in dictatorship countries, and a number of European countries declined due to political doubt over costs. Both the 2006 and 2010 Games, which were hosted in countries where large cities are located close to suitable mountain regions, had lower costs since more venues and transport infrastructure already existed.

text: The IOC has enacted several initiatives to mitigate these concerns. Firstly, the commission has agreed to fund part of the host city's budget for staging the Games.[112] Secondly, the qualifying host countries are limited to those that have the resources and infrastructure to successfully host an Olympic Games without negatively impacting the region or nation; this consequently rules out a large portion of the developing world.[113] Finally, any prospective host city planning to bid for the Games is required to add a "legacy plan" to their proposal, with a view to the long-term economic and environmental impact that hosting the Olympics will have on the region.[114]

text: Doping[edit]

text: In 1967 the IOC began enacting drug testing protocols. They started by randomly testing athletes at the 1968 Winter Olympics.[115] The first Winter Games athlete to test positive for a banned substance was Alois Schloder, a West German hockey player,[116] but his team was still allowed to compete.[117] During the 1970s testing outside of competition was escalated because it was found to deter athletes from using performance-enhancing drugs.[118] The problem with testing during this time was a lack of standardisation of the test procedures, which undermined the credibility of the tests. It was not until the late 1980s that international sporting federations began to coordinate efforts to standardise the drug-testing protocols.[119] The IOC took the lead in the fight against steroids when it established the independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in November 1999.[120][121]

text: The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin became notable for a scandal involving the emerging trend of blood doping, the use of blood transfusions or synthetic hormones such as Erythropoietin (EPO) to improve oxygen flow and thus reduce fatigue.[122] The Italian police conducted a raid on the Austrian cross-country ski team's residence during the Games where they seized blood-doping specimens and equipment.[123] This event followed the pre-Olympics suspension of 12 cross-country skiers who tested positive for unusually high levels of haemoglobin, which is evidence of blood doping.[122]

text: The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi's Russian Doping Scandal has resulted in the International Olympic Committee to begin disciplinary proceedings against 28 (later increased to 46) Russian athletes who competed at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, acting on evidence that their urine samples were tampered with.[124][125][126][127][128]

text: Politics[edit]

text: Cold War[edit]

text: The Winter Olympics have been an ideological front in the Cold War since the Soviet Union first participated at the 1956 Winter Games. It did not take long for the Cold War combatants to discover what a powerful propaganda tool the Olympic Games could be. The advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis.[33] Nevertheless, the IOC held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism until the '90s.[129]

text: The Cold War created tensions amongst countries allied to the two superpowers. The strained relationship between East and West Germany created a difficult political situation for the IOC. Because of its role in World War II, Germany was not allowed to compete at the 1948 Winter Olympics.[24] In 1950 the IOC recognised the West German Olympic Committee, and invited East and West Germany to compete as a unified team at the 1952 Winter Games.[130] East Germany declined the invitation and instead sought international legitimacy separate from West Germany.[131] In 1955 the Soviet Union recognised East Germany as a sovereign state, thereby giving more credibility to East Germany's campaign to become an independent participant at the Olympics. The IOC agreed to provisionally accept the East German National Olympic Committee with the condition that East and West Germans compete on one team.[132] The situation became tenuous when the Berlin Wall was constructed in 1962 and western nations began refusing visas to East German athletes.[133] The uneasy compromise of a unified team held until the 1968 Grenoble Games when the IOC officially split the teams and threatened to reject the host-city bids of any country that refused entry visas to East German athletes.[134]

text: Boycott[edit]

text: The Winter Games have had only one national team boycott when Taiwan decided not to participate in the 1980 Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid. Prior to the Games the IOC agreed to allow China to compete in the Olympics for the first time since 1952. China was given permission to compete as the "People's Republic of China" (PRC) and to use the PRC flag and anthem. Until 1980 the island of Taiwan had been competing under the name "Republic of China" (ROC) and had been using the ROC flag and anthem.[50] The IOC attempted to have the countries compete together but when this proved to be unacceptable the IOC demanded that Taiwan cease to call itself the "Republic of China".[135][136] The IOC renamed the island "Chinese Taipei" and demanded that it adopt a different flag and national anthem, stipulations that Taiwan would not agree to. Despite numerous appeals and court hearings the IOC's decision stood. When the Taiwanese athletes arrived at the Olympic village with their Republic of China identification cards they were not admitted. They subsequently left the Olympics in protest, just before the opening ceremonies.[50] Taiwan returned to Olympic competition at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo as Chinese Taipei. The country agreed to compete under a flag bearing the emblem of their National Olympic Committee and to play the anthem of their National Olympic Committee should one of their athletes win a gold medal. The agreement remains in place to this day.[137]

text: Sports[edit]

text: The Olympic Charter limits winter sports to "those ... which are practised on snow or ice."[138] Since 1992 a number of new sports have been added to the Olympic programme; which include short track speed skating, snowboarding, freestyle and moguls skiing. The addition of these events has broadened the appeal of the Winter Olympics beyond Europe and North America. While European powers such as Norway and Germany still dominate the traditional Winter Olympic sports, countries such as South Korea, Australia and Canada are finding success in the new sports. The results are: more parity in the national medal tables; more interest in the Winter Olympics; and higher global television ratings.[139]

text: Current sports[edit]

text:
Sport
Years
Events
Medal events contested in 2014

Alpine skiing
Since 1936
11
Men's and women's downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom, and combined, and parallel slalom.[140]

Biathlon
Since 1960Note 3
11
Sprint (men: 10 km; women: 7.5 km), the individual (men: 20 km; women: 15 km), pursuit (men: 12.5 km; women: 10 km), relay (men: 4x7.5 km; women: 4x6 km; mixed: 2x7.5 km+2x6 km), and the mass start (men: 15 km; women: 12.5 km).[141]

Bobsleigh
Since 1924 (except 1960)
3
Four-man race, two-man race and two-woman race.[142]

Cross-country skiing
Since 1924
12
Men's sprint, team sprint, 30 km pursuit, 15 km, 50 km and 4x10 km relay; women's sprint, team sprint, 15 km pursuit, 10 km, 30 km and 4x5 km relay.[143]

Curling
1924, since 1998
3
Men's, women's and mixed doubles. tournaments.[144]

Figure skating
Since 1924Note 1
5
Men's and women's singles; pairs; ice dancing and team event.[145]

Freestyle skiing
Since 1992
10
Men's and women's moguls, aerials, ski cross, superpipe, and slopestyle.[146]

Ice hockey
Since 1924Note 2
2
Men's and women's tournaments.[147]

Luge
Since 1964
4
Men's and women's singles, men's doubles, team relay.[148]

Nordic combined
Since 1924
3
Men's 10 km individual normal hill, 10 km individual large hill and team.[149]

Short track speed skating
Since 1992
8
Men's and women's 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m; women's 3000 m relay; and men's 5000 m relay.[150]

Skeleton
1928, 1948, Since 2002
2
Men's and women's events.[151]

Ski jumping
Since 1924
4
Men's individual large hill, team large hill;[152] men's and women's individual normal hill.

Snowboarding
Since 1998
8
Men's and women's parallel, half-pipe, snowboard cross, and slopestyle.[153]

Speed skating
Since 1924
14
Men's and women's 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, 5000 m, Massstart and team pursuit; women's 3000 m; men's 10,000 m.[154]

text:
^ Note 1. Figure skating events were held at the 1908 and 1920 Summer Olympics.
^ Note 2. A men's ice hockey tournament was held at the 1920 Summer Olympics.
^ Note 3. The IOC's website now treats Men's Military Patrol at the 1924 Games as an event within the sport of Biathlon.[nb 2]

text: Demonstration events[edit]

text: Demonstration sports have historically provided a venue for host countries to attract publicity to locally popular sports by having a competition without granting medals. Demonstration sports were discontinued after 1992.[155] Military patrol, a precursor to the biathlon, was a medal sport in 1924 and was demonstrated in 1928, 1936 and 1948, becoming an official sport in 1960.[156] The special figures figure skating event was only contested at the 1908 Summer Olympics.[157] Bandy (Russian hockey) is a sport popular in the Nordic countries and Russia. In the latter it's considered a national sport.[158] It was demonstrated at the Oslo Games.[159] Ice stock sport, a German variant of curling, was demonstrated in 1936 in Germany and 1964 in Austria.[20] The ski ballet event, later known as ski-acro, was demonstrated in 1988 and 1992.[160] Skijöring, skiing behind dogs, was a demonstration sport in St. Moritz in 1928.[159] A sled-dog race was held at Lake Placid in 1932.[159] Speed skiing was demonstrated in Albertville at the 1992 Winter Olympics.[161] Winter pentathlon, a variant of the modern pentathlon, was included as a demonstration event at the 1948 Games in Switzerland. It included cross-country skiing, shooting, downhill skiing, fencing and horse riding.[141]

text: Ten most successful nations[edit]

text: The table below uses official data provided by the IOC.

text:
No.
Nation
Games
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total

1
 Norway (NOR)
23
132
125
111
368

2
 United States (USA)
23
105
110
90
305

3
 Germany (GER)
12
92
86
60
238

4
 Austria (AUT)
23
64
81
87
232

5
 Canada (CAN)
23
73
64
62
199

6
 Soviet Union (URS)
9
78
57
59
194

7
 Finland (FIN)
23
43
63
61
167

8
 Sweden (SWE)
23
57
46
55
158

9
 Switzerland (SUI)
23
55
46
52
153

10
 Netherlands (NED)
21
45
44
41
130

text: List of Winter Olympic Games[edit]

text:
Games
Year
Host
Dates
Nations
Competitors
Sports
Disci-
plines
Events
Top Nation
Ref

Total
Men
Women

I
1924
 Chamonix, France
25 January – 5 February
16
258
247
11
6
9
16
 Norway (NOR)
[2]

II
1928
 St. Moritz, Switzerland
11–19 February
25
464
438
26
4
8
14
 Norway (NOR)
[3]

III
1932
 Lake Placid, United States
 4–15 February
17
252
231
21
4
7
14
 United States (USA)
[4]

IV
1936
 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
 6–16 February
28
646
566
80
4
8
17
 Norway (NOR)
[5]

1940
Awarded to Sapporo, Japan; cancelled due to World War II

1944
Awarded to Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy; cancelled due to World War II

V
1948
 St. Moritz, Switzerland
30 January – 8 February
28
669
592
77
4
9
22
 Norway (NOR)
 Sweden (SWE)
[6]

VI
1952
 Oslo, Norway
14–25 February
30
694
585
109
4
8
22
 Norway (NOR)
[7]

VII
1956
 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
26 January – 5 February
32
821
687
134
4
8
24
 Soviet Union (URS)
[8]

VIII
1960
 Squaw Valley, United States
18–28 February
30
665
521
144
4
8
27
 Soviet Union (URS)
[9]

IX
1964
 Innsbruck, Austria
29 January – 9 February
36
1091
892
199
6
10
34
 Soviet Union (URS)
[10]

X
1968
 Grenoble, France
 6–18 February
37
1158
947
211
6
10
35
 Norway (NOR)
[11]

XI
1972
 Sapporo, Japan
 3–13 February
35
1006
801
205
6
10
35
 Soviet Union (URS)
[12]

XII
1976
 Innsbruck, Austria
 4–15 February
37
1123
892
231
6
10
37
 Soviet Union (URS)
[13]

XIII
1980
 Lake Placid, United States
13–24 February
37
1072
840
232
6
10
38
 Soviet Union (URS)
[14]

XIV
1984
 Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
 8–19 February
49
1272
998
274
6
10
39
 East Germany (GDR)
[15]

XV
1988
 Calgary, Canada
13–28 February
57
1423
1122
301
6
10
46
 Soviet Union (URS)
[16]

XVI
1992
 Albertville, France
 8–23 February
64
1801
1313
488
6
12
57
 Germany (GER)
[17]

XVII
1994
 Lillehammer, Norway
12–27 February
67
1737
1215
522
6
12
61
 Russia (RUS)
[18]

XVIII
1998
 Nagano, Japan
 7–22 February
72
2176
1389
787
7
14
68
 Germany (GER)
[19]

XIX
2002
 Salt Lake City, United States
 8–24 February
78[162]
2399
1513
886
7
15
78
 Norway (NOR)
[20]

XX
2006
 Turin, Italy
10–26 February
80
2508
1548
960
7
15
84
 Germany (GER)
[21]

XXI
2010
 Vancouver, Canada
12–28 February
82
2566
1522
1044
7
15
86
 Canada (CAN)
[22]

XXII
2014
 Sochi, Russia
7–23 February
88
2873
1714
1159
7
15
98
 Russia (RUS)
[23]

XXIII
2018
 Pyeongchang, South Korea
9–25 February
92
2922
1680
1242
7
15
102
 Norway (NOR)
[24]

XXIV
2022
 Beijing, China
4–20 February
Future event
[25]

text: Unlike the Summer Olympics, the cancelled 1940 Winter Olympics and 1944 Winter Olympics are not included in the official Roman numeral counts for the Winter Games. While the official titles of the Summer Games count Olympiads, the titles of the Winter Games only count the Games themselves.


document_title: Koh-i-Noor

question_text: who took away the kohinoor diamond from india

text: Koh-i-Noor

text: History[edit]

text: Origin[edit]

text: The diamond is widely believed to have come from Kollur Mine,[9][10] a series of 4-metre (13 ft) deep gravel-clay pits on the banks of Krishna River in the Golconda (present-day Andhra Pradesh), India.[11] It impossible to know exactly when or where it was found, and many unverifiable theories exist as to its original owner.[12]

text: Early history[edit]

text: Babur, the Turco-Mongol founder of the Mughal Empire, wrote about a "famous" diamond that weighed just over 187 old carats – approximately the size of the 186-carat Koh-i-Noor.[13] Some historians think Babur's diamond is the earliest reliable reference to the Koh-i-Noor.[14] According to his diary, it was acquired by Alauddin Khilji, second ruler of the Turko-Afghan Khilji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, when he invaded the kingdoms of southern India at the beginning of the 14th century. It later passed to succeeding dynasties of the Sultanate, and Babur received the diamond in 1526 as a tribute for his conquest of Delhi and Agra at the Battle of Panipat.[12]

text: Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, had the stone placed into his ornate Peacock Throne. In 1658, his son and successor, Aurangzeb, confined the ailing emperor to Agra Fort. While in the possession of Aurangzeb, it was allegedly cut by Hortenso Borgia, a Venetian lapidary, reducing the weight of the large stone to 186 carats (37.2 g).[15] For this carelessness, Borgia was reprimanded and fined 10,000 rupees.[16] According to recent research the story of Borgia cutting the diamond is not correct, and most probably mixed up with the Orlov, part of Catherine the Great's imperial Russian sceptre in the Kremlin.[17]

text: Following the 1739 invasion of Delhi by Nader Shah, the Afsharid Shah of Persia, the treasury of the Mughal Empire was looted by his army in an organised and thorough acquisition of the Mughal nobility's wealth.[19] Along with millions of rupees and an assortment of historic jewels, the Shah also carried away the Koh-i-Noor.[20] He exclaimed Koh-i-Noor!, Persian for "Mountain of Light", when he obtained the famous stone.[21] One of his consorts said, "If a strong man were to throw four stones – one north, one south, one east, one west, and a fifth stone up into the air – and if the space between them were to be filled with gold, all would not equal the value of the Koh-i-Noor".[22]

text: After Nader Shah was killed and his empire collapsed in 1747, the Koh-i-Noor fell to his grandson, who in 1751 gave it to Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Afghan Empire, in return for his support.[20] One of Ahmed's descendants, Shuja Shah Durrani, wore a bracelet containing the Koh-i-Noor on the occasion of Mountstuart Elphinstone's visit to Peshawar in 1808.[23] A year later, Shujah formed an alliance with the United Kingdom to help defend against a possible invasion of Afghanistan by Russia.[24] He was quickly overthrown, but fled with the diamond to Lahore, where Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire, in return for his hospitality, insisted upon the gem being given to him, and he took possession of it in 1813.[19]

text: Acquisition by Queen Victoria[edit]

text: Its new owner, Ranjit Singh, willed the diamond to the East India Company administered Hindu Jagannath Temple in Puri, in modern-day Odisha, India.[25] However, after his death in 1839, his will was not executed.[26] On 29 March 1849, following the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the Kingdom of Punjab was formally annexed to Company rule, and the Last Treaty of Lahore was signed, officially ceding the Koh-i-Noor to Queen Victoria and the Maharaja's other assets to the company. Article III of the treaty read: "The gem called the Koh-i-Noor, which was taken from Shah Sooja-ool-moolk by Maharajah Ranjeet Singh, shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England (sic)".[27]

text: The Governor-General in charge of the ratification of this treaty was the Marquess of Dalhousie. The manner of his aiding in the transfer of the diamond was criticized even by some of his contemporaries in Britain. Although some thought it should have been presented as a gift to Queen Victoria by the East India Company, it is clear that Dalhousie believed the stone was a spoil of war, and treated it accordingly, ensuring that it was officially surrendered to her by Duleep Singh, the youngest son of Ranjit Singh.[28] The presentation of the Koh-i-Noor by the East India Company to the queen was the latest in a long history of transfers of the diamond as a coveted spoil of war.[29] Duleep Singh had been placed in the guardianship of Dr John Login, a surgeon in the British Army serving in the Presidency of Bengal. Duleep Singh would move to England in 1854.

text: Journey to the United Kingdom[edit]

text: In due course, the Governor-General received the Koh-i-Noor from Dr Login, who had been appointed Governor of the Citadel, on 6 April 1848 under a receipt dated 7 December 1849, in the presence of members of the Board of Administration for the affairs of the Punjab: Sir Henry Lawrence (President), C. G. Mansel, John Lawrence and Sir Henry Elliot (Secretary to the Government of India).

text: Legend in the Lawrence family has it that before the voyage, John Lawrence left the jewel in his waistcoat pocket when it was sent to be laundered, and was most grateful when it was returned promptly by the valet who found it.[31]

text: On 1 February 1850, the jewel was sealed in a small iron safe inside a red dispatch box, both sealed with red tape and a wax seal and kept in a chest at Bombay Treasury awaiting a steamer ship from China. It was then sent to England for presentation to Queen Victoria in the care of Captain J. Ramsay and Brevet Lt. Col F. Mackeson under tight security arrangements, one of which was the placement of the dispatch box in a larger iron safe. They departed from Bombay on 6 April on board HMS Medea, captained by Captain Lockyer.

text: The ship had a difficult voyage: an outbreak of cholera on board when the ship was in Mauritius had the locals demanding its departure, and they asked their governor to open fire on the vessel and destroy it if there was no response. Shortly afterwards, the vessel was hit by a severe gale that blew for some 12 hours.

text: On arrival in Britain on 29 June, the passengers and mail were unloaded in Plymouth, but the Koh-i-Noor stayed on board until the ship reached Spithead, near Portsmouth, on 1 July. The next morning, Ramsay and Mackeson, in the company of Mr Onslow, the private secretary to the Chairman of the Court of Directors of the British East India Company, proceeded by train to East India House in the City of London and passed the diamond into the care of the chairman and deputy chairman of the East India Company.

text: The Koh-i-Noor was formally presented to Queen Victoria on 3 July 1850 at Buckingham Palace by the deputy chairman of the East India Company.[29] The date had been chosen to coincide with the Company's 250th anniversary.[32]

text: The Great Exhibition[edit]

text: Members of the public were given a chance to see the Koh-i-Noor when The Great Exhibition was staged at Hyde Park, London, in 1851. It represented the might of the British Empire and took pride of place in the eastern part of the central gallery.[33]

text: Its mysterious past and advertised value of £1–2 million drew large crowds.[34] At first, the stone was put inside a gilded birdcage, but after complaints about its dull appearance, the Koh-i-Noor was moved to a case with black velvet and gas lamps in the hope that it would sparkle better.[35] Despite this, the flawed and asymmetrical diamond still failed to please viewers.[1]

text: 1852 re-cutting[edit]

text: Originally, the diamond had 169 facets and was 4.1 centimetres (1.6 in) long, 3.26 centimetres (1.28 in) wide, and 1.62 centimetres (0.64 in) deep. It was high-domed, with a flat base and both triangular and rectangular facets, similar in overall appearance to other Mughal era diamonds which are now in the Iranian Crown Jewels.[36]

text: Disappointment in the appearance of the stone was not uncommon. After consulting various mineralogists, including Sir David Brewster, it was decided by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, with the consent of the government, to polish the Koh-i-Noor. One of the largest and most famous Dutch diamond merchants, Mozes Coster, was employed for the task. He sent to London one of his most experienced artisans, Levie Benjamin Voorzanger, and his assistants.[19]

text: On 17 July 1852, the cutting began at the factory of Garrard & Co. in Haymarket, using a steam-powered mill built specially for the job by Maudslay, Sons and Field.[37] Under the supervision of Prince Albert and the Duke of Wellington, and the technical direction of the queen's mineralogist, James Tennant, the cutting took thirty-eight days. Albert spent a total of £8,000 on the operation,[38] which reduced the weight of the diamond from 186 old carats (191 modern carats or 38.2 g) to its current 105.6 carats (21.12 g).[39] The stone measures 3.6 cm (1.4 in) long, 3.2 cm (1.3 in) wide, and 1.3 cm (0.5 in) deep.[40] Brilliant-cut diamonds usually have fifty-eight facets, but the Koh-i-Noor has eight additional "star" facets around the culet, making a total of sixty-six facets.[3]

text: The great loss of weight is to some extent accounted for by the fact that Voorzanger discovered several flaws, one especially big, that he found it necessary to cut away.[19] Although Prince Albert was dissatisfied with such a huge reduction, most experts agreed that Voorzanger had made the right decision and carried out his job with impeccable skill.[38] When Queen Victoria showed the re-cut diamond to the young Maharaja Duleep Singh, the Koh-i-Noor's last non-British owner, he was apparently unable to speak for several minutes afterwards.[39]

text: The much lighter but more dazzling stone was mounted in a honeysuckle brooch and a circlet worn by the queen.[1] At this time, it belonged to her personally, and was not yet part of the Crown Jewels.[19] Although Victoria wore it often, she became uneasy about the way in which the diamond had been acquired. In a letter to her eldest daughter, Victoria, Princess Royal, she wrote in the 1870s: "No one feels more strongly than I do about India or how much I opposed our taking those countries and I think no more will be taken, for it is very wrong and no advantage to us. You know also how I dislike wearing the Koh-i-Noor".[41]

text: Crown Jewel[edit]

text: After Queen Victoria's death, the Koh-i-Noor was set in the Crown of Queen Alexandra, the wife of Edward VII, that was used to crown her at their coronation in 1902. The diamond was transferred to Queen Mary's Crown in 1911,[42] and finally to The Queen Mother's Crown in 1937.[43] When The Queen Mother died in 2002, it was placed on top of her coffin for the lying-in-state and funeral.[44]

text: All these crowns are on display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London with crystal replicas of the diamond set in the older crowns.[45] The original bracelet given to Queen Victoria can also be seen there. A glass model of the Koh-i-Noor shows visitors how it looked when it was brought to the United Kingdom. Replicas of the diamond in this and its re-cut forms can also be seen in the 'Vault' exhibit at the Natural History Museum in London.[46]

text: During the Second World War, the Crown Jewels were moved from their home at the Tower of London to Windsor Castle.[47] In 1990, The Sunday Telegraph, citing a biography of the French army general, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, by his widow, Simonne, reported that George VI hid the Koh-i-Noor at the bottom of a pond or lake near Windsor Castle, about 32 km (20 miles) outside London, where it remained until after the war. The only people who knew of the hiding place were the king and his librarian, Sir Owen Morshead, who apparently revealed the secret to the general and his wife on their visit to England in 1949.[48]

text: Ownership dispute[edit]

text: The Koh-i-Noor has long been a subject of diplomatic controversy, with India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan all demanding its return from the UK at various points.[49]

text: India[edit]

text: The Government of India, believing the gem was rightfully theirs, first demanded the return of the Koh-i-Noor as soon as independence was granted in 1947. A second request followed in 1953, the year of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Each time, the British government rejected the claims, saying that ownership was non-negotiable.[38]

text: In 2000, several members of the Indian Parliament signed a letter calling for the diamond to be given back to India, claiming it was taken illegally.[26] British officials said that a variety of claims meant it was impossible to establish the gem's original owner.[50]

text: In July 2010, while visiting India, David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said of returning the diamond, "If you say yes to one you suddenly find the British Museum would be empty. I am afraid to say, it is going to have to stay put".[38] On a subsequent visit in February 2013, he said, "They're not having that back".[51]

text: In April 2016, the Indian Culture Ministry stated it would make "all possible efforts" to arrange the return of the Koh-i-Noor to India.[52] It was despite the Indian Government earlier conceding that the diamond was a gift. The Solicitor General of India had made the announcement before the Supreme Court of India due to public interest litigation by a campaign group.[53] He said "It was given voluntarily by Ranjit Singh to the British as compensation for help in the Sikh wars. The Koh-i-Noor is not a stolen object".[54]

text: Other countries[edit]

text: In 1976, Pakistan asserted its ownership of the diamond, saying its return would be "a convincing demonstration of the spirit that moved Britain voluntarily to shed its imperial encumbrances and lead the process of decolonisation". In a letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, James Callaghan, wrote, "I need not remind you of the various hands through which the stone has passed over the past two centuries, nor that explicit provision for its transfer to the British crown was made in the peace treaty with the Maharajah of Lahore in 1849. I could not advise Her Majesty that it should be surrendered".[55]

text: In 2000, the Taliban's foreign affairs spokesman, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, said the Koh-i-Noor was the legitimate property of Afghanistan, and demanded for it to be handed over to the regime. "The history of the diamond shows it was taken from us (Afghanistan) to India, and from there to Britain. We have a much better claim than the Indians", he said.[50]

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: The Koh-i-Noor made its first appearance in popular culture in The Moonstone (1868), a 19th-century British epistolary novel by Wilkie Collins, generally considered to be the first full length detective novel in the English language. In his preface to the first edition of the book, Collins says that he based his eponymous "Moonstone" on the histories of two stones: the Orlov, a 189.62-carat (37.9 g) diamond in the Russian Imperial Sceptre, and the Koh-i-Noor.[56] In the 1966 Penguin Books edition of The Moonstone, J. I. M. Stewart states that Collins used G. C. King's The Natural History, Ancient and Modern, of Precious Stones … (1865) to research the history of the Koh-i-Noor.[57]